Clash
by TheKingOfPenguins
Summary: Homeworld has decided to end the Crystal Rebellion, once and for all. This time however, they aren't just sending soldiers. If brute force doesn't work on the Crystal Gems, maybe Homeworld's best and brightest will do the trick. Watch as brilliant minds collide in conflict. Schemes are aplenty and every ability will be used to its fullest potential. (Starts just after "The Trial".)
1. Clash 1 - Homeworld Task Force

**Greetings Reader, TKOP here with my attempt at doing every smart character as smart as I can possibly write them. I will try to stick to canonical facts, but a lot of the plot hinges on theorising. It'll most likely be AU as of the first interaction with Homeworld Gems after "The Trial", but hey, it's a fanfic, I can live with that. That being said, ON WITH THE STORY!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything, like seriously, this is fanfiction on a free fanfiction site!**

 **Clash 1 – Homeworld Task Force**

"Apologies for the delay, my Diamond." Spoke a low voice. The massive chamber was silent except for the sound of the Diamond's Pearl frantically tapping on a data-screen.

"I heard what happened at the trial, and you know what I'm going to suggest." She continued. The Pearl slowed her tapping. The Pearl was apprehensive, both she and her Diamond had heard the idea before, several times, and she knew that it had never before been approved.

"Will you guarantee that this… proposal will further progress in my… endeavor?" Said the booming voice of her Diamond. The Pearl returned her focus to her data-screen.

"If you would allow me access to the best and the brightest gems under your command, I would be able to assemble a command group. I would need access to the Peridots and Zircons for that and lesser gems for guards. Little resources apart from a command ship would be necessary." Listed the low voice. The Pearl looked to her Diamond for orders. Sighing, the Diamond nodded once, and the Pearl started gathering data.

"I hope you know how much I am risking here, Star." Spoke her Diamond as she turned to leave. She knew, she very well knew, and her Diamond knew that. No response was necessary.

"Make your leave then, Star Sapphire; you will be informed of where to go when you need to be there." Said her Diamond, ending the conversation. She retreated swiftly, with only enough hesitation to be polite.

-Later-A dilapidated building-

Chief Engineer Peridot was quite a few things. She was taller than other Peridots, a defect only barely minor enough for her to still be alive. It was enough for her to be distinguishable without her Limb Enhancers and enough to stand face to face with an Amethyst with them on. Apart from her deformity, she was revered among other Peridots. The title of Chief Engineer was not an empty one, it gave her direct command over any other Peridot assigned to the same project as her, a set of limb enhancers although she was an Era 1 Peridot, and it granted her a personal guard consisting of a pair of amethysts.

The title of Chief Engineer, she felt, was not unearned. She had served competently for as long as she could remember. She had been in charge of creating many important projects during her service. Homeworld itself would be notably less impressive if she had not had a hand in so much.

Yet, even though she was both intelligent, competent and accomplished, she was no navigator, and in that important moment, it showed. She was in that moment truly lost. This, she thought, this could impossibly be where she had been told to arrive at. If anything in the upper reaches of Homeworld was run down, it was the building in front of her; there was no way that an important meeting that she had been specifically requested for by her Diamond's personal Pearl was to be held here, no way.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the arrival of another gem, and not one she would have expected here of all places on Homeworld. A blue Zircon, looking decidedly nervous, closely followed by an Amethyst. The newcomer looked at the building, shook her head and checked a small data-screen.

-Blue Zircon-

She double, then triple, checked the data-screen; she did not want her destination to be this place. She glanced at the Amethyst that had escorted her here, and was met with a flat stare and a nod. She swallowed, adjusted her tie and looked around. There was nobody except herself, the Amethyst and an unknown Peridot.

"What are the two of you doing here?" The smaller Gem, the Peridot spoke up. The stranger looked as nervous and unsure as she herself felt. Perhaps this other Gem was in a similar situation as herself.

"I was sent here by the direct command of The Great Diamond Authority, I don't know why specifically I was ordered here but I have my suspicions." She replied. Perhaps, she thought, this was her punishment, it would be logical; she had quite obviously stepped out of line during the trial.

"And I suppose you were escorted here by your companion." The Peridot deduced. Zircon's reply was a curt nod.

They stood in silence for a while; she supposed nobody present was entirely sure that the destination set by The Great Diamond Authority _could_ even be this place. Just as she made to ask for the Peridot's purpose here the front door of the building opened.

"Do come inside, you were invited to the building not the street." Spoke a low voice from inside. She looked around hesitantly, seeing apprehension on the faces of the other Gems present. She made to ask if they were in the right place.

"The next thing you will say is; this doesn't look like a place for Diamond business, is this the right place?" Spoke the voice from inside. The words barely registered in her mind before she spoke herself.

"This doesn't look like a place for Diamond business, is this *Gasp* how did you do that?" She questioned, her surprise very much audible. Both the Peridot standing next to her and the Amethyst looked equally surprised.

"The two of you will have to come inside for an explanation, and you, the Amethyst, will report to the Uncontested Conquest as soon as possible." Spoke the voice inside. The Amethyst nodded curtly, turned away and left.

-Star Sapphire-Inside-

She moved from the door as the other Gems reluctantly entered. She heard a small gasp of recognition as soon as the Zircon caught sight of her. With that, she glimpsed at what was to come.

" _You! You're Star Sapphire!" Spoke the Zircon, surprise and recognition clear in her voice._

"Indeed, I am Star Sapphire, as for how I predicted what you would say, the answer is precognition." She sat at the far end of the table that had been placed in the room, making a gesture to invite the newcomers to sit.

"I suppose you wonder why you have been summoned here." She spoke as the others sat. The two of them glanced at her and each gave a nod of confirmation. In response, she gleamed into the near future.

" _Is this my punishment?" Questioned the Blue Zircon, fear and resignation evident in her eyes._

"No, this is not a punishment; you are here by the merit of your millennia of competent service to Homeworld, not by your failures and shortcomings." She said in response to the question that would have been asked.

"I don't need to tell you how you have been useful to Homeworld for the last few millennia, you know that yourselves, but I feel that it would be most prudent to inform you that your work has not gone unnoticed." She informed them, a small smile adorning her lips. They looked back at her with surprise in the Peridots case and nervousness from the Zircon.

"You have over the years proven time and time again that you both are valuable assets to our Diamonds; Peridot, for centuries you have been one of the first to be called to work on problems that need to be solved with skill, and you, Zircon, you realize that you have been making waves amongst our Diamonds in the recent past." The Peridot looked pleased with herself whilst the Zircon swallowed audibly.

"Now, you are to prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that you can be assigned to a task and not simply succeed but go above and beyond any results your peers would achieve." With this, she began her presentation of the assignment itself.

"Your assignment concerns the Crystal Gems, a small group of rebels that is based on the planet Earth and which is currently led by the infamous Rose Quartz." This was met by clear surprise from each of the gems before her.

Such was to be expected, as neither of them were combat-oriented in any way whatsoever. One was a senior technician and engineer, while the other was an experienced lawyer surrounded by controversy. To be told that they would be assigned to something that involved a notorious rebel group would be understandably surprising. Before she went on, she peered into the future.

" _Did you know that Homeworld has made repeated attempts to capture the Crystal gems?" She asked, her tone clarifying that it was a legitimate question and not just a stated fact._

" _Yes." Answered the Peridot. She looked to the Zircon._

" _I did." Voiced the Zircon. This, she thought, was good to know._

"As you already both know, Homeworld has on multiple occasions attempted to bring the Crystal Gems to justice, but they have so far managed to outsmart all forces sent to capture them, and thus, avoid justice so far." She made eye contact with each of them in turn as she spoke, hoping to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation.

"The hope is that we can manage to outsmart them in turn, which is why we have assembled what we perceive to be the most intellectually capable task force Homeworld has to offer." The realization hit them visibly; they would be trusted to outsmart a dangerous group of rebels that had managed to overpower one of the most decorated Jasper generals Homeworld had seen in multiple millennia.

"That task force is the three of us, with assistance provided by the dreadnought flagship the Uncontested Conquest, which is why you've been summoned here; the plan was to keep this to ourselves, if anyone outside the taskforce, the Uncontested Conquest and the Great Diamond Authority were to hear of this the backlash would be immense." Both nodded in understanding at this, it made sense, were the proud Jaspers or worse, Emeralds, to be made aware of a Sapphire, a Peridot and _that_ Zircon leading a task force against the Crystal Gem rebellion, they would be far from happy.

"That being said, if there is no further questions, I believe we can, and should, continue this meeting aboard the Uncontested Conquest." With this, she stood, and so did what was now her colleagues.

-Chief Engineer Peridot-

It was unexpected for sure, as a Peridot, albeit one of extraordinary skill, to be called to end a rebellion, with a Zircon and a Sapphire, it was simply unheard of. She was not one to question the will of her Diamond, or the other Diamonds for that matter, but she was certainly close to doing so now. Nevertheless, she could see how it made sense, if brute force had proven ineffective, would it not make sense to attempt an intellectual approach, and it made sense to choose her specifically, for there was few who could boast to equal her mental prowess.

"So what was that about punishment?" She asked, attempting to make small talk as they walked. Blue Zircon flinched slightly as she heard the question. Touchy subject it seemed.

"Zircon, this concerns you, answer it if you will." Answered Star Sapphire. Mentally she noted to make nicknames for the gems that would be her companions… no, her teammates for the duration of the imminent assignment.

"The short version is that I, during the trial of Rose Quartz where I was assigned as Rose Quartz' defendant, managed to offend both Yellow- and Blue Diamond by way of overzealous defense and accusations that would be deemed traitorous in the mind of any sensible Gem." Blue Zircon's explanation was met by silence. A few moments passed in disquieting quiet as she thought of a response.

"Just who did you accuse of what to offend both of the Diamonds in the room at once?" Again, her prying was met with a flinch. Blue Zircon took a moment to look over her shoulder nervously.

"At the peak of a rant focused around the impossibility of Rose Quartz' guilt in the case of Pink Diamond's murder, I managed to conclude that the only ones capable of shattering Pink Diamond under those circumstances would be one of the other Diamonds, and I told them that, directly." It took her a few moments to process the information. The silence that laid over them was deafening. Then, the silence was broken. Hysterical laughter rose from Chief.

Chief could barely keep up with the other two gems as her laughter grew uncontrollably. Blue Zircon kept her head down, looking somewhere between embarrassed and nervous. Passing gems gave them odd looks at the borderline painfully loud laughter that Chief let out. Star Sapphire seemed unfazed, no doubt a result of thousands of years of experience with various eccentric gems. Slowly though, her laughter faded.

"How… how did you… how did you manage to conclude _that_ , and… and how did you get convinced that it was a good idea to tell not one but _two_ Diamonds that to their faces?" And with that, she returned to her laughing fit. Blue Zircon opened her mouth, likely to explain.

"You were about to begin a lengthy explanation of you rationale, I feel it would be prudent to inform you that we would reach the ship before the end of your imminent tirade, where you would be cut off by the Peridots working near the entrance." Star Sapphire cut in. From what could be seen of her face, she looked thoroughly serious.

"I propose that you wait until we have more time to spare before you summarize your… hypothesis." Star continued and ended the conversation. It was only about half a minute before they reached the colossal hangar that served as the resting place of countless Homeworld ships of various size and purpose.

By far the most impressive of the vessels in the hangar were the personal ships of the four Diamonds; even Pink Diamond's ship was kept in pristine condition, by the direct order of White Diamond. Second only to those was the Uncontested Conquest, an ancient Homeworld warship designed to lead entire fleets of lesser ships. It was more than gargantuan, with a length of just over three miles. It was designed during the height of the Crystal Rebellion and had been in service for the last four millennia. Its defenses were nigh impenetrable, just its shields requiring as much power as a fully operational lunar base. Its only real weak point was that it lacked much in terms of aggressive means, having been designed as a command ship and not battleship.

Chief Engineer Peridot knew all this and more about the ship before them. Of course she did. How couldn't she? After all, this was _her_ magnum opus. She chose not to resist the urge to gloat.

-Blue Zircon-

The following minutes were insufferable, the Chief Engineer had begun boasting about the ship they were to use and she grew perpetually louder in her gloating, somehow managing to excite herself further with every exaggerated claim. It only became worse when they reached hearing distance of the Peridots that were working near the front of the ship. It took them little time from hearing the Chief Engineer's boasting to realizing that the Chief Engineer was the creator of the colossal mechanical monstrosity before them. They swiftly joined in; praising both the Chief Engineer and the ship she had designed.

The torment came to a halt when the Chief Engineer went another direction from them, her going to oversee the on-board engineering bay, them going to the bridge of the ship to introduce themselves to the navigational and piloting crew.

After making an introduction to the small crew of Nephrites, Star Sapphire provided her access to a file containing the layout of the obscenely huge spaceship. They then parted ways, Star Sapphire leaving with the promise of her being summoned to the planning room when they departed from Homeworld.

Not being assigned to an immediate task for more than a few hours for the first time in centuries, she took a few minutes to simply stroll through the expansive hallways. It was odd really; a Zircon's life was never one of luxury or even much comfort. It was such a minor freedom really, but it felt so exhilarating, knowing that there was, for just a moment, nothing to attend to, no gem to defend in court, only whatever she so desired… within reasonable limits of course.

She found her way to her personal quarters and after lounging for as long as was bearable; set off to look at other parts of the ship. She passed several Gems as she wandered, mostly Amethysts and Peridots. There was a noticeable lack of any higher-ranking militant Gems, but it made sense, it fit Star Sapphire's earlier explanation; most Gem officers had a tendency towards pride and would have a fit working under a Sapphire, a Peridot and a Zircon.

It was then that her data-screen received a notice, the ship was to depart, and that meant that she would be needed in the room simply labeled planning room. It was not a small room, not quite as big as her new personal quarters but size was not what made it stand out, rather, it was the room's location. It was on the highest point of the ship and to add to that it was only accessible through Star Sapphire's personal quarters.

She felt the entire ship shift around her as it took off from Homeworld. The course was set, and she knew that they had just passed the point of no return… or well, no return until they had succeeded, she supposed.

Then, she just had to find her way to Star Sapphire's quarters. She was faced with another challenge, for though her deductive skills were great, too great some might argue, she was not a navigator, that was Nephrites were made for. That and piloting in general she added.

"Need a little help?" She turned toward the voice. It was an Amethyst, the same one that had escorted her to the earlier meeting place. Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8XJ, or just "8XJ" as she had previously introduced herself, stood in front of her, the Gem on her left shoulder clearly visible, a slight curl to her hair and a knowing smirk plastered on her face.


	2. Clash 2 - The Arrival

**Salutations, Literate One. TKOP hath returned to the waking world to bring you another chapter of Clash from the deepest pits of Hell, past the Mountains of Madness, a walking distance from Mordor. Today, we get more of the Homeworld Task Force, as well as the Crystal Gems. BTW, there's not enough character tags. Hope you enjoy, Review if there's something you want to say, and ON WITH THE STORY!**

 **Disclaimer: You own nothing, TKOP.**

 **Clash 2 – The Arrival**

Hers were the captain's quarters, likely the most comfortable place on the ship. It was excessively large for a room without any important functions, greater in size than the inside of a Roaming Eye. The combination of her diminutive stature and the room being only sparsely furnished left the room feeling both larger and emptier. Her only company in the room was fleeting, rarely would other Gems enter into her quarters and it was even rarer still that her Diamond had the time to spare to speak with her through her communicator.

Somewhere in her mind, she realized that she was grateful for the location of the planning room being so that it was only accessible through her room. It was without doubt the greatest contributor to companionship in the captain's quarters.

She had been tempted to ask her Diamond for a Pearl to keep her company, but she had foreseen the outcome of such a proposal. It was not truly necessary, her Diamond would say, too large a risk factor.

She knew her Diamond was right, of course she had thought of a range of possible scenarios where it would be a hindrance to have a Pearl there. Her Diamond was not one to let a plan fail because of an unnecessary risk even if such a risk was miniscule at worst.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a single knock on the door between the captain's quarters and the hallway outside. Blue Zircon, she foresaw, was the first to arrive. So too did she foresee that they would have approximately fifteen minutes before the arrival of the Chief Engineer, and further forty-five minutes before their arrival at the Earth's only moon.

She let Blue Zircon in, dismissing the Amethyst behind the visitor with a hand gesture. Blue Zircon took a moment to look at the captain's quarters before following Star Sapphire to the planning room.

Entering the planning room, the two of them stood in silence. Star Sapphire was the one to break the silence as she moved to the far end of the large table that was place in the center of the room.

"You suspect that there is more reason than your intellect to you being chosen for this task." It was not a question for she already knew the answer. The perceptive Zircon before her was right of course. The statement was met with a look of surprise and a reluctant nod.

"Your… theory has been considered by the Diamonds. After they regained their calm, they agreed that something was off. While they all think that the idea that one of them had committed such an atrocity is beyond laughable, they do think that it deserves further thought." She took a moment's pause, not to breathe; she did not need to, but rather to let the words sink in. She continued as Blue Zircon's eyes widened in surprise.

"You have been sent here not just for the preciously stated task but additionally to investigate the possibility of the guilt of anyone other than Rose Quartz in the murder of Pink Diamond; the Diamonds want revenge, but they want it against none other than the Gem that murdered Pink Diamond." Moving her hair aside as she spoke, she made eye contact with Blue Zircon; making sure that the point was made clear to her.

Blue Zircon swallowed nervously, an otherwise idle hand now fidgeting with her cravat. She nodded, having no other choice than to accept the task, as it was given to her, not just by a higher-ranking Gem, but by the remaining entirety of the Great Diamond Authority.

-Chief Engineer Peridot-

She would have arrived earlier; she really would, had she noticed that the ship had lifted off. Fate was not so kind however, and she had been thoroughly absorbed in the nostalgia of looking through the engineering bay she had designed so many centuries ago. She had been moving towards the on-board forge when she had noticed the faint feeling of being propelled through the void of space at a speed far outpacing that of light.

She had promptly turned and left for the captain's quarters when she had realized that, her extensive knowledge of the layout of the ship resulting in her being late but not by more than a few minutes, approximately twenty overall.

Reaching the door to the captain's quarters, she lifted her hand to knock as a show of courtesy, but the door opened before she could manage to do so. Star Sapphire stood inside, giving a small nod in greeting, a bow being an excessive gesture.

They wasted no time moving from the captain's quarters towards the planning room only a single corridor away. Inside waited Blue Zircon, looking thoughtful. They seated themselves around the table that stood as the sole visual feature in the room, bar the chairs.

"Now would be an appropriate moment to discuss any actual plans for finishing off the Crystal Gems." Star Sapphire looked as if she already had more to input but held herself back to allow the other Gems a chance to speak. She looked to Blue Zircon, not having any ideas yet herself. Blue Zircon looked reluctant but spoke her mind nonetheless.

"I propose that we start by gathering information about these Crystal Gems, it would be… unwise to rely entirely on millennia old data without anything up to date to confirm what would be assumptions at best, there's no telling what new tricks the Crystal Gems have learned since the war." Blue Zircon seemed to grow more confident as she spoke, getting more enthusiastic along the way, and for a moment, Chief Engineer Peridot could see how she would have reached a point where she would accidentally commit high treason.

"That would be the smart thing to do, for one, who knows what kind of technology they have access to. While it is unrealistic to presume they have modern Homeworld tech, they have still had millennia to prepare, and probably humans to help them, and while I do not believe in any part in the intellect of those _creatures_ , they have shown to be remarkably resourceful, if nothing else." Chief Engineer Peridot added. Star Sapphire chose only to nod slowly, showing agreement and urging them to continue.

"Perhaps the first thing we should find out about them would be where on the planet they primarily reside. Maybe make use of some of our Red Eyes to scan the surface for any Gems. It'd even work if they destroyed one, we'd know where we sent it, and thus where they would be, AND we'd know that they had a weapon that could destroy a Red Eye." Blue Zircon looked enthusiastic now, any lack of confidence long forgotten. She had to admit, it was a good suggestion. Star Sapphire, from what could be seen of her face, looked to agree.

"This, from what I can see, is the most practical choice, and the one that leads to the least unknown factors in the long run." Star Sapphire nodded as she spoke, it was decided then.

"This course of action seems agreeable to me; it seems we have the first step of a plan now. This is going to go great, I can feel it." Both Blue Zircon and herself smiled as Chief Engineer Peridot said this, and Star Sapphire joined in with a Smirk.

-Earth-Garnet-

There was something wrong, something was coming. She didn't know what to look for in the future and because of that, she saw nothing to confirm nor dismiss the feeling that something was about to happen. Each of her visions simply ended with a looming sense of dread.

She faintly felt a sense of déjà vu; she knew that she had had this feeling before the question was when. It was not when Aquamarine had arrived; it was long before then. It was still relatively recent, not even much more than a year back. The problem, then, lied in the fact that the Crystal Gems' lives had been almost incredibly eventful throughout the last year and a half.

From Steven's first fusion to fighting Malachite, from the Cluster to Homeworld's return… Homeworld's return. That was it, the first sign of Homeworld coming back after all those centuries, the Red Eye. That was when she had last had this feeling. A massive presence in the future, imminent but wholly unexpected.

Some part of her compelled her forward, to inform the other Crystal Gems, while somewhere else in her mind, she was reluctant, wondering if not she was being too impulsive, acting on gut feeling without any actual facts. She moved forward then, assuring herself that it would be better to be wrong and ready than right and unprepared. It dawned on her then to look into the future for a Red Eye.

 _A massive Red Eye floated in the sky before them, not moving, but still watching._

With her suspicion confirmed, she gathered the Crystal Gems. It only took her minutes, Peridot being easy to find, still staying in the temple's bathroom, and the other Gems being no farther away than the far end of Beach City. They gathered in the temple, ready to hear what important vision had lead Garnet to gather them from their various activities.

"Another Red Eye is coming." She said no more, the other Gems were already up and moving. Each of them moved in surprise and confusion. Nobody present had expected any such thing, and she could not blame them for that, neither had she just a few minutes ago.

"I foresaw it, it'll be here soon." At this, the Gems moved in a rare display of discipline, the only exception being Peridot who instead stood stock still, looking thoughtful. This, Garnet did not miss, Peridot had far greater insight into modern day Homeworld than the rest of them, if she was thoughtful then there was probably something off.

"There shouldn't just be another Red Eye; Homeworld doesn't just send them without a reason. There must be something else besides the Red Eye." Peridot looked up as she said this. Garnet nodded, this might become problematic.

"The best thing to do would still be to destroy the Red Eye, would it not?" Pearl looked nervous as she asked this. There was too many unknowns, the only thing they knew that there was a Red Eye, and that it had arrived for a reason. She made to answer, but was interrupted.

"Guys, have you seen this?" Connie shouted this as she practically burst through the front door. In her hand, she held a mobile phone, with the screen showing some news channel. What the news were saying was the alarming part. Plastered across the screen was a line reading; Breaking News: Giant floating eyeballs spotted worldwide. Beneath the text was pictures from all around the planet, pictures of Red Eyes.

-Connie-

The room, which had been full of movement just a moment ago, was now frozen and silent. Everyone in the house were staring at the phone in her hand, various looks of shock and surprise crossed their faces as they saw article.

"This is bad." Garnet was the one to break the silence. For just a moment, the room relapsed into quiet, and then, there was chaos.

"What do we do?" Pearl voiced what was likely on everyone's mind at that moment. Connie was as surprised as she had been when she first saw the news. It was obvious that whatever was happening was Gem-related, what it was specifically however, Connie had no idea.

"What's going on?" Amethyst looked at her when she asked this; she had no doubt assumed that Steven had already told her a story about what had happened before to cause recognition and alarm at the sight of the giant floating eyeballs.

"Like, a week or two before Steven met you, one of these things, apparently called Red Eyes, came here and almost destroyed Beach City. It's really bad that there's more of then 'cause we had to use Rose's laser cannon thing to blow it up, nothing else even scratched it." Connie got nervous at that explanation, how were they supposed to deal with around four hundred of these Red Eyes if the Gems had had to use some sort of laser cannon to at all damage one of them.

"Wait, how did it almost destroy Beach City, what weapons do these things have?" the Gems in the room stopped at her question, Peridot specifically looking thoughtful. There was silence again, hesitating, hopeful. Everyone now looked at Peridot and she, in turn, looked back.

"You said it was going to destroy Beach City… but Red Eyes don't have weapons… wait… I thought I had fixed the faulty thruster, I didn't even really notice, but looking back, it must have been getting too close to the ground." Garnet confirmed Peridot's statement with a nod.

"It wasn't meant to do that, it was just supposed to scan the area for Gems and fly off. One of the thrusters was malfunctioning, and I thought I had fixed that. These won't do anything like that, a malfunction like that is one in a few billion." Everyone looked relieved at that, no global threat to defeat, it seemed. Peridot seemed certain at least, which was somewhat reassuring.

"They are still scanning Earth for Gems, aren't they?" And with that, the stress was back. It was nice knowing they did not have to face an army of giant floating possibly city-destroying eyeballs, but it was also important to keep in mind that they were still there and some Homeworld Gem was trying to find them.

"Well, no matter what, we can't destroy one of them and leave the rest of them intact, then Homeworld would notice the absence of just that one, and even if we destroyed multiple, that'd still narrow down our location severely." Peridot made a strong point; they would need a way to hide from them instead.

"No big, we'll just chill at the Moon Base for a while, right?" Amethyst's suggestion seemed reasonable, she thought while trying not to loudly exclaim her confusion and excitement at the Crystal Gems apparently having a Moon Base.

"We shouldn't do that, I see nothing good in the future if we go there." Garnet looked serious, her face contracted into a small frown. They returned to thinking, looking simultaneously stressed and stumped. Her own face lit up, she had an idea.

"We could do that thing Lars did on Homeworld, you know, where you hide your Gems behind a human." It seemed smart enough to her, and she was suddenly even happier that Steven had told her all about what had happened on Homeworld. In the edge of her vision, she saw Peridot, who now held a glint of excitement in her eyes.

"Yes! That would work, the Red Eyes' scanners are powerful enough to scan through several feet of solid metal, but they're programmed to ignore biological creatures when they're searching for Gems to save time, genius!" Peridot sounded as excited as she looked as she proclaimed this, and soon, the other Gems looked hopeful too.

-Peridot-

"Wait, where's Steven? The Red Eye would still pick up on his Gem, wouldn't it?" Connie seemed worried, and Peridot could understand why. Steven was one of the few things left on Earth that Peridot actually cared about.

"Where we're going. It's A Wash." Garnet's answer was short and to the point as was often the case with the things she said, but more than that it was relieving. Knowing where Steven was and that it wasn't far away was comforting.

"Let's go, I don't want to waste any time, this is a serious problem that we should take seriously." There was truth in her words but if she were to be honest with herself, she would admit that it was mostly a need to keep Steven safe that drove her to speak.

It was a short walk to It's A Wash, only so far as to the other side of the hill that the Crystal Temple was built into. Just outside the wash stood Steven and his dad, looking into the sky at the Red Eye that floated there. Their faces were painted with a mixture of shock and surprise and Steven was fumbling to get his phone.

"Steven! Your presence means we're all together, we have a plan on how we can avoid these new Red Eyes." She spoke loudly so that Steven would hear her without any problems; they were still a small distance away after all. Steven turned to look at them, his face showing concern quite clearly.

"What do we do, you guys, are we gonna blow this one up with mom's cannon too?" Steven was worried but hopeful, as he often was when facing hardship. For a moment, she thought back to when she was on Homeworld's side of this conflict, seeing Steven's apprehensive optimism and at first dismissing it as naiveté. Even when fighting him, memories with Steven seemed to tend to be happier than many of her memories without him.

"That won't work, Homeworld will know if one of them goes missing, there's not just one this time, there's hundreds, all around the world!" That did not seem to faze Steven much; he was likely remembering that they had said that they had had a plan.

"We'll use the same trick Lars did when you guys were on Homeworld, the Gems will hide behind a human so the Red Eye's scanner won't see them." Connie explained with the enthusiasm that was common of someone who was explaining a great idea they had come up with, her face twisting into a smile as she spoke.

"Wait, how would they notice if one of them went missing, you didn't notice when we blew up the first Red Eye." Steven looked at her as he spoke. It was a fair question; she would give a fair answer.

"Well, it was getting pretty old and was starting to malfunction too often for Homeworld's liking, so we decided it was a waste of resources and because of that, it'd be sent on one last mission before self-destructing via the nearest sun. We just assumed it had self-destructed, this place was the last place it had to scan, after all." She explained this while looking at the Red Eye in the sky. It was as flawless as all things Homeworld were supposed to be.

"No matter that, we should be hiding behind a human right now, that's where Greg comes into this." Greg looked at her when she said this, giving her a look she did not quite comprehend. In response, she simply shrugged.

"You guys told me I should stay out of Gem business, are you sure I should be doing this?" Greg looked nervous, and Peridot found it odd. After all, he was one of Steven's parents, the other being Rose Quartz, so how was it that he seemed almost afraid of doing anything Gem related. She managed to regain focus, not letting herself be too mentally sidetracked.

"You're our best option; I could probably manage to hide behind Connie, but the other Gems, that would be a problem. There's more you to hide behind than there is Connie." Greg sighed and nodded, she, in turn, smirked; for once again, her superior communicational skills were on display.

"Hey Peridot, how did you guys know that you should scan beach city for Gems?" Steven looked thoughtful, and she had to give it to him, it was a good question.

"We programmed the Red Eye to scan any location that we knew had had major Crystal Gem activity in the past, this place was the last it was set to scan." This seemed to answer his question, but now Connie was looking thoughtful.

"Wait, how did you then know that the Crystal Gems were here if you never got a scan of their Gems?" She seemed curious, and apart from it perhaps not being the best time, she could see why.

"Well, Lapis let it slip, accidentally might I add, that you lived in a temple, so we looked over the scans that we got from the Red Eye before it blew up, and we found your temple, and thought, that giant fusion temple is probably where they would hide." She explained, but as she did, Connie started to look concerned.

"Wouldn't these new Homeworld Gems come to the same conclusion if they just saw the temple?" This question made her pause. She thought for a moment, but could not see anything wrong with that assumption. It was Amethyst that voiced what she felt then.

"Aw, silt."

-Blue Zircon-

Their scans were coming in from all across the Earth, but so far, there was no signs of any Gems. It also seemed that the Crystal Gems either could not or just had not destroyed any of their Red Eyes, which was mildly problematic.

The last scan finished, and the Crystal Gems were nowhere to be found. It was now definitive that the Crystal Gems had some way of avoiding the scans, if not some way off-planet.

"Nothing, they have managed to avoid detection. Someone, start checking the scans for anything unusual, or obviously rebellion-related." The Chief Engineer was giving out orders with confidence, showing her experience in a commanding role. She herself nodded at the order, she would not be the one to do it, but it made sense to show agreement with the idea.

The communications room was filled with a tense silence for a few minutes. The quiet came undone when one of the common technician Peridots gave of a sound of excitement. She looked up at the two present commanding Gems.

"I think I've got something, Red Eye no. 217 picked up a construction that is most likely of Crystal Gem make." The junior Peridot seemed excited, and that was understandable to her, competent work was what was rewarded on Homeworld, after all. Looking at the screen, she saw a massive statue, seemingly of some cross-Gem fusion, with multiple large Gems present in the design. More damning was that the statue seemed to incorporate some sort of residential building in its construction, strongly suggesting that this was the base of the Crystal Gems.

"Good work, we'll bring this data to Star Sapphire. Peridots, uh… return to your duties." She felt nervous, not as much as during the trial of Rose Quartz, but she could clearly feel how unused she was to being in a commanding role. The Peridots dutifully returned to their usual stations, meanwhile she and the Chief Engineer left for the planning room.

The ship's hallways were long, large enough for a Diamond, and they were countless. Not literally, the Chief Engineer had likely counted them all a multitude of times when she was designing the ship. The Chief Engineer beside her looked at her, and opened her mouth to speak.

"So I've given it some thought, and I believe I have arrived at a satisfying conclusion." She gave the Chief Engineer a look of confusion to signal her lacking understanding. Given what some thought? A conclusion to what exactly? She wondered. They turned right.

"Nicknames, we can't just keep on using full names, all three Gems in the command group has a name that's at least four syllables and a space. If we kept referring to each other by our respective full names, that would be unbearable in the long run. You've probably started to refer to me by something shorter in your mind already, right?" She supposed it made sense, a few seconds saved a day would eventually equate to a significant amount of time. Moreover, she had to admit, they had been aware of each other's existence for just two days, and already, she was already referring to her as "Chief Engineer", cutting out almost half the name's length.

"What alternative do you suggest?" She herself hadn't a clue; she had never been keen on nicknames, likely a result of being a borderline social outcast among the other Zircons of her Facet. The Rose Quartz case had not helped her reputation, for the last few days the most common way to refer to her had been loudly yelling "YOU!" in her general direction. The other Zircons had thought it hilarious, but who knew, they probably had a horrible sense of humor.

"Well, in that I don't quite know either of you rather well personally, yet, I can't get all that creative but I do have a few suggestions." She made a motion with her hand, signaling for the Chief Engineer to continue. They rounded a corner.

"First of all, myself; Chief. It's short and to the point, and carries the most important part of my title." She nodded, and mentally added that it also made the Chief Engineer… no, Chief, sound like a higher-ranking Gem. She would compare it to calling someone "Captain" or something akin to it. Yet it was as she said, short and descriptive enough, it was a good nickname in her opinion.

"Second, Star Sapphire can be shortened drastically to Star. Again, It is short and yet enough to identify who you are talking to." Again, she found herself nodding, agreeing with the given description and the points that it made. They took a left.

"Then, lastly, there's you, I'd call you Blue for short, seeing as it's unlikely that we'll be in the presence of Blue Diamond or her Pearl in the near future." She took a moment to think before she gave a response. To her, it was certainly better than simply being called Zircon, as it felt more like the way one would refer to a Pearl. There weren't any Gem type apart from Pearls that were commonly referred to by their type by anyone other than their Diamond. To add to this, she couldn't come up with a better alternative.

She nodded as they went around another corner, and just as soon as she did, she was on the ground. Looking up, she saw the Gem she had collided with, and internally, she groaned. It was that same Amethyst that kept showing up around her, the one with a single large curl in her hair, and a cheeky grin on her face.

-Pearl-

She was worried, which was, admittedly, not uncommon for her, however, what was luckily rare was her fears being validated. Homeworld was back, and this time, seemingly with far more resources available than when Jasper or Aquamarine had attacked.

She did not miss the war; too many good Gems had died, on both sides. The Diamonds' final blow, the Corruption, had not helped her thoughts on the war. Now that Homeworld was back again, she could not help but worry for the safety of the remaining Crystal Gems. While they clearly held advantage in a fight against an enemy that they outnumbered, fighting an enemy that had the resources to send hundreds of Red Eyes head on was not just inadvisable, it was suicidal.

"Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory." The quote was not her own, it was one of her rare human friends that had said it, around 25 centuries before. Pearl rarely interacted with humanity, and often, when she did, it was only with small groups of people or individuals that she in some way admired or respected.

While the Red Eye had seemed not to notice their presence, she was absolutely certain that it had managed to scan the giant temple in front of it. On one hand, at least Homeworld only knew of their reported numbers, however, on the other hand, they now knew where the base of the Crystal Gems was without having to rely on an informant.

Tensions were high in the temple, they had tried their best to outsmart what seemed to be the greatest threat to them since the war, and yet, they had missed a single, crucial detail that had led to them most likely being discovered. This was, to them, not a favorable situation to be in, they could deal with individual threats without too much trouble, but something like this was far more problematic.

The Crystal Gems had never been much for open combat during the war; they had mastered guerilla warfare in order to overcome a force that was so much larger than their own. Then, for every Gem that had joined the rebellion, Homeworld had a platoon. They had stayed in hiding, striking swiftly and disappearing without a trace. Homeworld's generals had millennia of experience in warfare, however, that experience was from large battles and honorable duels, with no clue how to counteract an enemy that was not there until it was favorable for them.

In recent centuries, long after they had last had to fight an enemy that outnumbered them thousands to one, they had begun to fight more directly against the corrupted Gems. The idea had been that they could fight the corrupted Gems faster if they did it openly, not waiting for the perfect conditions, but rather, simply an opportunity to strike. The odds had been so strongly in their favor for the last few centuries, they had not needed subtlety, now however, it seemed to be necessary again; they could not fight an army in single combat.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Amethyst's question brought her from her thoughts, and back into the present. Mentally, she thanked Amethyst, there was a time for reflection on the past, however, in that moment, there was something far more urgent to tend to.

"They'll send Gems next." Garnet added to the tension every few minutes, precognition was a gift, yes, but it certainly was not used to comfort them. Knowing what was about to happen was often a major benefit, and it had both solved and avoided a large amount of problems back during the war. The only real downside was that the visions Garnet got were never as clear as what a Sapphire could see, and that it was a longer process to do so, being an almost passive ability to Sapphires.

"Well, I suggest we gather what we know so far." Her proposal was met with nods from all the Gems in the room, Connie too. Peridot was looking quite nervous, even more so than when they had first seen the Ruby squad. Steven seemed thoughtful, he wanted to help but he most likely was not imagining much he could add. Even Amethyst seemed to be affected by the dread looming in the air.

"We know that they have a massive supply of Red Eyes, and probably other resources too. We know that they are going to send Gems next. We know that they most likely know where we live. What we don't know is who they're sending, how many Gems there are or even who's leading them." The mood was downtrodden; there was hardly any good news when it came to these new adversaries.

"Hey, we know that they didn't read my report to the Diamonds, the one where we found out where the Crystal Gems live, so logically then, their leader isn't one of the Diamonds, just a subordinate." It wasn't quite good news, but it was positive, and she felt her spirits be raised a smidge.

"There will be someone we'll recognize." Garnet cut in as she returned to the present from another vision. She felt conflicted about that statement, on one hand, she knew many foes that she had fought during the war that she'd be more than happy to never again face, on the other hand, she had known gems that, last she'd heard, were still on Homeworld, and who she hoped she'd be able to persuade to their side of the war.

"We don't know when they're coming, so I suggest that we get ready to hide and observe. We can't fight Homeworld without knowing what we're dealing with again." This got another round of nods, nobody was enthusiastic about letting Homeworld come without meeting them with a fight, but they could see reason, it was better to find out what they were dealing with first. Last time they thought they knew what Homeworld was capable of, Garnet had been poofed, Steven was abducted, and both Opal's greatbow and the Qartzine Trio had been completely ineffective.

"Watch out Homeworld, this time, we'll be ready!"


	3. Chapter 3 - Rolling Initiative

**Well hello there, Reader. TKOP here with another brand new chapter of Clash. Today, you're in for a treat as I have concocted this story's very first fight scene. I'll move on before I start spoiling the entire chapter, so... ON WITH THE STORY!**

 **Disclaimer: You know how this one goes.**

 **Clash 3 – Rolling Initiative**

She was, for once in her life, uncertain of what to think of the situation before her. After her co-leaders had reported the finding of the Crystal Gem temple, they had left her alone. Shortly thereafter, she had moved from the captain's quarters, instead going to inspect work in the engineering bay. When she had arrived, she had expected that the Peridots would either be working dutifully or collectively distracted by something that the Chief Engineer was doing or saying.

What she had not expected was that the engineering bay would be entirely empty. The only sign of life was the noise coming from the forge. Taking further note of the noise she had dismissed as usual for a forge, she was made certain that something was off by the sound of a Peridot's cackle emanating from within the forge.

In a moment, she moved to investigate, and was met with a sight she could not outright explain. Peridots and Bismuths, standing in a circle around the main furnace, cheering as a large slab of metal was removed from the heat. Spotting the Chief Engineer, she moved to stand beside the taller Gem. The Chief Engineer looked down at her, smirking.

"I think I can guess what's on your mind, don't worry about this; it's just a little something we're preparing for the Crystal Gems." Her smirk never left her face, and only grew wider as a fused pair of Bismuths began hammering the metal into shape.

"I'll leave you to it, then. Hopefully, if what you're making becomes necessary, it'll work as well as you're implying." With this, she left the forge behind, instead moving to the bridge of the ship to oversee the piloting crew of Nephrites.

She entered onto the bridge, and found the commanding Nephrite giving out orders as the ship shifted, landing on the surface of the moon, just a short distance from the old Homeworld moon base. The commanding Nephrite noticed her presence, gave a quick salute, and returned to giving out orders.

There was not much else for her to do on the bridge than confirm that the Nephrites were following orders. Checking the time, she began her return to the captain's quarters; after all, her Diamond had only little time to talk to any one of her subordinates.

When she had returned to the captain's quarters, she took her personal communicator from its place in the corner of the room. She twisted the device, selecting her direct line to her Diamond. The call was answered, not by her Diamond's Pearl, but by her Diamond herself. Her Diamond's face held an amused smirk as she looked at the communicator's screen.

"It seems my little Pearl has decided to go rogue, she left sometime during the night, she snuck out right past my guards, even, they say they didn't see her coming before she was leaving." Her Diamond chuckled lightly as she finished speaking. A moment later, her Diamond's face turned to stone, an uncaring mask with a serious look in her eyes.

"You realize what this means to the plan, Star, take care to see to it that nothing goes astray, we cannot afford to make mistakes. We must be extraordinarily careful with our next few moves; there is much to lose, were we to falter now. I suggest you put the Zircon to use, send her to Earth with a few Amethysts to investigate the Crystal Gems." With this, her Diamond's face returned to a slight grin and her Diamond ended the call.

As she summoned her co-leaders to the planning room, she found that she was smiling.

-Chief Engineer Peridot-

The next time she saw either of the other Gems in command was at the scheduled meeting, only a few minutes after Star had left the forge. When they'd reported the Red Eye's findings, they had also came to an agreement that they should meet in the planning room at least once a day so every member of the command group was up to date with everything that was going on.

Star was already in the planning room when she arrived, and she had to admit, the smaller Gem was looking less stoic than was usual, even going as far as having a smile crossing the visible part of her face. She sat down silently, and began overlooking blueprints on a screen she made from her right arm's limb enhancer. She mostly did so to spend the time while waiting for Blue; she had already reviewed the blueprints thrice.

When Blue arrived, she, too, looked more upbeat than her usual nervous self. Another thing to note was that an Amethyst flanked Blue as she entered. She recognized the Amethyst as the one that Blue had crashed into when they were delivering the Red Eye's report to Star. Blue sat in the empty seat whilst the Amethyst stood behind her. Glancing her way, the Amethyst gave a smirk.

"What's with your companion?" Her question was met by a turn of the head, Blue looked at her questioningly.

"When Star called me here, she said to bring an Amethyst whose prowess I have faith in." Turning to look at Star, she was met with a nod. Returning her gaze to the Amethyst, the warrior Gem's smirk widened into a smug grin.

"Your report seems accurate, but it would be most prudent to confirm the location of the Crystal Gems more accurately than we have. I suggest sending Blue Zircon there, as she has the greatest investigational skills among the Gems onboard, with an Amethyst to act as a guard." The plan, to her, seemed reasonable, the comment on Blue's skills investigation wise was likely true, and it seemed logical to her to send a Gem made for combat to act as a guard for a Gem that was not made so. She had only one suggestion.

"Following the logic behind sending a guard, wouldn't it be wiser to send a group of Amethysts instead of just one?" Star nodded thoughtfully at the question, whilst the present Amethyst's smile faltered slightly.

"More than one Amethyst would be too noticeable, it would be the best option to go unnoticed but have a backup plan." Blue voiced her thoughts and the Amethyst's smile returned in full force.

"We could send a group of Amethysts somewhere else to serve as a distraction, but the Crystal Gems would most likely go into high alert because of that, so it wouldn't help stealth in the long run." The other Gems nodded at this, and it seemed that a plan had been formed.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll add that the project in the forge is coming along great, and will be ready in just a few days." With that said, she rose from her seat, and made for the door.

"Before you go, keep in mind that we cannot simply destroy the Crystal Gems, our Diamonds want to investigate them, to make sure that Pink Diamond's murderer is made known to them, and is met with a fate worse than shattering." Star stood as she spoke, radiating an intensity that made the intent behind her words sufficiently clear.

"We cannot shatter them outright, but we must make it certain that we are seen as a supreme threat, any willpower they possess will eventually falter and crumble under pressure and in the end, someone will tell us the whole story, and everything our Diamonds want to hear." Her hair moved from her face for a split second, and there was a fire in her eye as it stared intensely at and, she felt, through her.

"Diamonds' will be done."

-Garnet-

It was in the dark of night she knew they would come; she saw darkness around their future selves. There would not be many; she hear only two pairs of footsteps in the sand. They would be spotted, and the faces of the Gems they would see would take them by surprise.

As she sat in the Temple, meditating under the hopeful gazes of both Steven and Connie. Her future sight allowed her to see many things to come, countless outcomes to her every action, and tragedies that would never come to pass whilst she was there to warden her fellow Crystal Gems, but what it was not, was perfect, she wanted to see futures regarding Homeworld's next move, and that she saw, but she could not discern what Gem types would be there to greet them.

"How does future sight even work? I get that you can see what might happen, but… I mean… what are the limits? Is there a science behind it? Does it just work? How can you see something that hasn't happened yet?" Connie, it seemed, was in an awfully disruptively inquisitive mood. She had already answered a multitude of questions in the past hour as best she could. Some of the highlights were about the chemical composition of Gems comparatively to gems, the nature of their faster-than-light engines, and the exact details of the Homeworld caste system.

"Image a car, with you and I in it. The road we drive on is time. You are busy unwrapping a present, the present, and do not see where the car is going. I am sitting next to you, and I too am infatuated by the present, but occasionally, I look out the front window, see the street signs and maybe even tell our driver where to turn. Padparadscha, an off-color Sapphire who sees the past is looking out of the back window, too occupied with the car behind us to look at the present." With that she paused, letting the information sink in. Connie looked thoughtful, and Steven started doodling what would eventually be labeled the "Time Car".

"Keep in mind that in this example, I'm not the one driving the car, no one is, and instead, it's one of those self-driving cars. I am simply a tad more aware of the road going by, and can tell the car to go another route if I think it is going the wrong way." She smiled; it was rare that she got to share exactly how it was to look into the future. Sapphires were often isolated or at least detached from other Gems, as the Gems around them commonly deemed their way of thought strange, and as a result, many Sapphires accepted the path they saw and developed passive and inactive personalities.

"Connie, ask your parents to sleep over, there's guests coming in the evening, Homeworld guests." She knew they would come that night; she had seen the starry sky and recognized with little difficulty the location of the stars, the phase of the moon, and from that, the date.

Connie did as Garnet asked, and went outside the door with her phone, leaving Garnet and Steven alone. Garnet peeked at the drawing Steven had made, she didn't need to, she had seen the complete picture already, but she felt a need to see him making progress.

"I think it needs more colors." Steven's wish was fulfilled as she grabbed a handful of colored crayons from nearby and handed them to him. She smiled again as he filled out the white spots on the drawing with various colors, from blue to red.

-Connie-

"No mom, this is really important… yes! Fate of the Earth important… no, really, mom, I'm not exaggerating… can you please just bring my pajamas… love you, mom." When the elder Maheswaran had responded, she ended the call. She sighed, her mother was really trying, but it was understandably hard for her to fully comprehend that her daughter was the student of and friend of a group of ancient alien rebels who still fought against warriors from their home planet occasionally. Mentally, she added that they also had precognition, shapeshifting, immortality, faster-than-light travel and giant evil overlords.

Thinking about it, her life really had taken a turn for the bizarre since she had met Steven. Her life had been quite ordinary before, the parts of her life that had been the furthest from normal before had been that they had moved around a lot and that she was at least as smart as her parents. Now, she was being trained in sword fighting by Pearl, a literal alien who had been around since before the pyramids were built. Her best friend was the half-human son of the leader of a rebellion that had been through a millennium long war. On top of that, her most common mode of transport was a magical pink zombie lion with a pocket dimension in its hair.

She did not have a problem with the way her life had turned out; it was exciting, far more so than her life before, it was nice having friends for once, and on top of it all, she made a difference. She wasn't just the nerdy kid in class anymore; now, she was Connie Maheswaran; Crystal Gem and protector of Earth. She was glad to have met Steven, and the thought brought a smile to her face as she walked back inside the beach house.

Steven was lying on Garnet, on the couch, crayon in hand, drawing what looked like a fancy car. Garnet was sitting under Steven, one hand placed somewhere inside his hair. The rest of the Crystal Gems were nowhere to be seen, most likely in their respective rooms, or the bathroom, in Peridot's case. She sat in the couch next to the two present Crystal Gems on what little space there was left on the couch.

"My mom's bringing my things so I can stay over tonight, I hope there's room enough for me to sleep." Garnet glanced briefly at Steven's bed, and then at the couch before returning to envisioning the future. Steven looked up from his drawing with a thoughtful expression.

"I'll take the couch, you can have the bed; it's comfier." He smiled, and that, she returned. Garnet looked up with a slight smile. The scene seemed serene, that is, until Peridot burst from the bathroom with all the subtlety and grace expected of her, which was none.

"Any new developments regarding the Homeworld invaders?" The question was half-yelled as Peridot slid to a halt in the middle of the room. Garnet looked at the Gem technician for a moment before nodding.

"They will arrive tonight, and there will only be two; they most likely want to remain unseen, which has failed already." Peridot grinned at the news; it was nice to know that they were not going to face an army, _yet_.

"Do we know which types of Gems are coming? A Jasper would be a much bigger problem than, say, a Ruby." She could have sworn that she for just a moment saw Garnet's face shift into a grimace before she responded. Peridot was visibly unaware of any wrongdoing on her part.

"We don't know, but the logical choices would be an observant Gem, and a warrior Gem that has a darker coloration than, say, a Jasper." Peridot nodded in response, quite oblivious to what seemed to be a jab at Peridot's earlier statement.

"So first, an observant Gem, that doesn't rule many Gems out, but it suggest… maybe a Nephrite? Second Gem is easier to discern, a warrior Gem with a coloration that allows for stealth at nighttime strongly suggests an Amethyst." Garnet nodded at the statements. Connie herself could feel a few questions ready to be answered; what is a Nephrite? Did other Amethysts look like the Amethyst she knew? Which Gems _were_ ruled out due to bad observational skills?

She felt her phone buzz, and she was taken away from the conversation. It was her mom, having left a text informing her that her things had arrived. She shot up from the couch and made for the door. She looked over her shoulder and called out.

"My mom's here with my things, I'll be right back!" With that said, she strode for the door. She only managed to hear one more thing before she left.

"What's a mom?"

-Peridot-

Fifteen minutes later, when Connie had returned from wherever she had gone, Peridot was left with a confusing explanation from Steven and a link to the Wikipedia page for humans from Connie.

Choosing to research this side venture at a later date, she went to the door in the back of the beach house; she had been drawing schematics before she went outside the bathroom, and she felt a need to get them looked over by another Gem she knew was technologically competent, and the only one available to her at the time for those purposes was Pearl.

For a moment, she stood in front of the door, before she turned around, marched in front of Garnet, looked her dead in the visor, and opened her mouth.

"I'll help." Garnet said nothing else before moving a lightly protesting Steven off herself and standing up. Again she found herself looking up at the fusion, she was reminded that without her Limb Enhancers, Garnet was almost twice her height.

Garnet walked to the door, Peridot only a few steps behind, held up her Gems to the door, and with a shining light from the two corresponding gemstones on the door, it opened to the room she had been in whilst bubbled.

"It shouldn't be hard to find Pearl's room." With that said, Garnet returned to Steven and Connie, and Peridot walked into the bubble room.

The room was, as last she had seen it, filled with bubbled Gems, most of them likely corrupted. Unlike the first time she had been in the room, her thoughts were occupied by the thought that this was the work of the Diamonds. The corrupting light had hit both Homeworld soldiers and Crystal Gems. It seemed unnecessarily vicious to use a weapon that, though it did not kill, transformed allies and enemies alike, indiscriminately, into monstrous and mindless killing machines.

Garnet, it seemed, had been correct in her previous statement, in that it was not hard to locate Pearl's room. Moving through a tunnel leading outside of the bubble room, she had entered into what looked to be a large open area, filled past sanity with scrap and junk. From there she had first seen what she had assumed was Pearl's room, based mainly on the assumption that her eyesight had not degraded, and that the shape she saw atop one of the pillars of water was indeed Pearl.

She set off for Pearl's pillars, her way only slightly obstructed by the senselessly tall piles of randomly assorted items. Then, in a moment of unawareness, she fell, having tripped on something that had gotten loose from one of the piles. She looked to see what had been the source of her misfortune, and was greeted with an unexpected sight.

"Heya P, what'cha doing in my room?" Amethyst reverted from the shape of what she had recently learned was called a banana, or more accurately, the peel of one. Peridot took a moment to dust herself off before responding.

"I'm simply passing through; I'm going to get Pearl's input on some schematics I've drawn up." She began walking towards Pearl's room again, now however, Amethyst followed her. She looked back, and Amethyst gave a grin before opening her mouth to speak.

"Don't think about me, I'm just here to annoy Pearl 'till she tells me to go do something." Amethyst looked oddly proud at that statement, as if it was some great feat to annoy Pearl. Peridot sighed and hastened her pace.

"Are you at least going to do as she says when she does get annoyed enough to do so?" She looked back at Amethyst, who had adorned herself with a smile that Peridot had come to recognize as a warning sign for more of Amethyst's antics.

"Not a chance."

-Blue Zircon-

Roaming Eyes were never meant to be luxurious vessels; they were simple transports and aerial reconnaissance units, but still, they had enough room to carry multiple Diamond-sized Gems, albeit uncomfortably. They were useful even in covert operations as they were relatively small and lacked much of the flashiness commonly associated with Gem ships.

The Roaming Eye departed from the ship as the planet's moon hang almost directly above the location of the Crystal Temple. The journey from high orbit to just off the coast that housed the Crystal Temple lasted only seconds.

Surrounding the cliff into which the Crystal Temple was built was what seemed to be a human settlement. They landed outside a human building with a large ornamental ring on top of it. Their Nephrite pilot opened the door to allow them access to the outside world.

8XJ was the first one outside, looking uncharacteristically serious as she scanned the surroundings for any sign of the Crystal Gems. Just as she herself stepped outside, the door behind her slid closed and the Roaming Eye rose to the sky. It would stay close enough to see what was happening, yet far enough away to remain unseen.

She looked through the glass front of the human building, and it seemed empty, there were visible light, but they were turned off, and in addition, there were no humans in sight. 8XJ entered her field of view in the mirror image of the glass, and gave a nod, signifying that there was no sign of the Crystal Gems.

They moved along the beach, staying close to the side of the cliff. They were alert, and when a flash of light came from just around the cliff, they stopped for a full minute before resuming at a reduced pace. They eventually reached a small rocky outcropping only a few steps from the cliff. It was large enough to conceal them from view, and with that in mind, they moved behind it.

They kept silent, and the result was an eerie void where normally there would be something, anything really, to take their minds off the tension in the air. From their location, they could see the house part of the Temple, and seeing the lights on did nothing to ease the tension in the air.

Further out was what looked like one hand of the Temple, broken off from the rest and partially buried in sand. They moved outward, with the hand as their destination, it would serve as a preferable vantage point. They hoped to get a better look at the inside of the residence, from a safe distance.

They arrived at the hand, but rather unfortunately, they were not capable of observing any part of the interior. They waited for a few moments, thinking of what to do next; the remaining ground in front of the house was an open field of sand. Then, their collective train of thought was completely derailed as the door to the Temple opened and a small shape stepped outside.

"Is there anyone out there?" Neither of them recognized the voice, and neither did they recognize the shape of the small silhouette. She concluded after a moment of thought that the person who had stepped out of the Crystal Temple was a juvenile human. She used a single finger to tell 8XJ to stay silent, and received a nod.

"I'm over here, is there anyone else there with you?" As she asked, she hoped that she had not made a huge mistake.

"No, my family is sleeping, who are you?" She looked at 8XJ, and was met with a shrug.

"I'm Blue, do you live here?" The human closed the door behind her, and looked in the direction of the hand.

"Yes, my family and I have lived here for a few years now." She sighed, knowing that what she was about to do might be incredibly dangerous.

"I'm coming over there, I just want a closer look at your house; it looks quite unique." She whispered for 8XJ to stay put, and moved from behind the hand toward the house.

"Please don't come any closer, mom told me not to let strangers in." She cursed under her breath, even if the Crystal Gems were not there, she would rather avoid alarming whoever was there.

She was just about to respond when she saw a glimpse of a silhouette within the house. She stopped halfway between the house and the hand. She recognized the silhouette, it was Rose Quartz' new shape, which meant that there was Crystal Gems there.

She froze as she realized it; they had waded right into an ambush. Her senses were on high alert, and for just a moment, she heard something above them.

She turned, and ran, not a moment too late as a massive impact cratered the sand where she had stood moments ago. It was the Crystal Gems' infamous fusion, Garnet. There was only barely a moment where she was the only one running, before Garnet behind her broke into a dead sprint.

If she had had a heart, it would certainly be racing, and she felt panic well up inside her as the gauntlet-wielding fusion quickly gained on her.

Then, with equal momentum, 8XJ burst from the buried hand, and the two warriors collided with enough force to be felt several feet away.

8XJ, with her whip, managed to keep Garnet at bay as she had the reach advantage; however, it seemed that Garnet had the advantage in every other aspect.

8XJ twirled her whip aggressively, and made countless attacks whilst slowly backing away to keep the distance. Garnet, however, seemed to have no problem with this as she blocked each and every strike with one of her gauntlets, both arms moving as a blur as she steadily pushed forward.

As 8XJ realized that she wasn't going to win the fight by continuing this same attack, she leaped backwards and initiated a spin dash.

Garnet seemed unfazed, and slowly walked toward her rapidly spinning opponent.

8XJ moved with incredible speed as she spun toward Garnet, but just as the fusion warrior would have been hit, she sidestepped the attack.

The follow-up was even more devastating as Garnet delivered a powerful punch to 8XJ's side, which sent the Homeworld Gem flying. After multiple seconds of airtime, 8XJ landed in the sand next to Blue, and her body dug a crater into the soft ground.

8XJ slowly got up; she was not quite done yet. She seemed exhausted, likely from being hit in the side in the middle of an attack. Garnet, on the other hand, seemed no more tired than when she had sprung her ambush.

Then, as the situation was starting to look bleak, it got worse; another person, about as tall as the Crystal Gem fusion, joined the fray, standing next to Garnet.

The newcomer wielded a shield, much as she had heard Rose Quartz had, and… Rose Quartz's sword? The infamous Diamond-shattering blade? Perhaps this new fighter was Rose Quartz's true form, and the smaller one she had seen on multiple occasions now was simply a disguise. If it was, she noted that it was an effective disguise, as the two forms only had few similarities.

The two Crystal Gems separated, likely preparing to flank the two Homeworld Gems.

Then, just as the two warriors had gotten far enough apart to flank the two of them, the clouds parted, and through them came crashing down a shape neither group had expected; the Roaming Eye transport.

It came with blinding speed, and before anyone managed to react, it crashed into Garnet, burying both her and itself deep into the sand.

It rose slightly, and moved quickly toward them. The door on the Roaming Eye opened, and just as it moved past them in a blur, 8XJ leashed onto one of the seats inside the shuttle.

8XJ grabbed her arm, and without warning, they went flying. They flew up, turned around, and fell through the door, into the Roaming Eye.

As the Roaming Eye sped off from the planet, they slowly got up. She looked at 8XJ and received a wild grin in return.

"She's getting promoted, right?"

-Pearl-

When Homeworld had first attacked, their world had turned to chaos, and it had been so for the first few years of the rebellion. Then, they had learned, their mistakes made them wiser, and they had embraced the chaos of war. They had reveled in it, made it their ally.

Homeworld had armies; Homeworld had trained warriors, warships and weapons. However, they had held the advantage from the moment that they had abolished traditional warfare. They had become shadows, smoke and mirrors, where Homeworld had thought themselves safe, they had struck with force. Wherever Homeworld's armies had gone, they had followed, unseen, unharassed and ready to attack.

Deception had become their modus operandi, their way of warfare; they had staged battles to expose weakened forces elsewhere. Some prideful Homeworld warriors had said that they had abandoned honor, in reality, what they had done was accept that an open battle was not a fair fight, and made a fair fight out of what seemed unfair to the rather narrow-minded Homeworld officers. They had fought smart, and it had turned certain loss into a pyrrhic victory.

Now, it felt like those first few years, when they had still attempted to outfight Homeworld rather than outsmart them. They had driven off the invading force, but their attempt at misinformation had failed spectacularly and Garnet had been poofed.

She did not fault any of the Crystal Gems; she faulted the lack of communication that had led to half of the Crystal Gem fighting force to be away from the battle during the action.

The fight itself had been going great until the very end, and then, it had only gone so horribly wrong because of a factor that everyone in the fight had most likely forgotten to take into account.

The fight had almost been avoided altogether, were it not for how senselessly perceptive Zircons were. They had expected any type of Gem that was seen on the front lines and was also less oblivious than, say, an Agate. What they had not anticipated was the inclusion of a Zircon, the lawyers of Homeworld high society, in the Homeworld fighting force.

"Hey P, did Stevonnie tell you if they recognized the Amethyst?" She was taken out of thoughts by Amethyst, who had already been pestering her for the last hour.

"No, why don't you go ask them, I have to have a word with Peridot." She made eye contact with Peridot as she said this, making sure that she knew to stay. Amethyst shrugged and walked off in the direction of where they had last seen Stevonnie.

"Peridot, can you tell me how long Homeworld has been using Zircons in frontline operations?" Peridot gave her an odd look.

"You're kidding. I have never heard of any Gem officer using a Zircon, of all Gem types, outside of established Gem colonies, let-alone in a frontline mission." She sighed; she had thought so.

"That means that the commanding Gem is using irregular tactics, which then means that we can't simply rely on our experience in fighting Homeworld commanders." Peridot grimaced; they needed good news, not this.

"You can still make use of some of your experience; we just know that just because Homeworld commanders in the past have tended to do one thing, it doesn't necessarily mean that this commander will do the same thing." She smiled slightly.

"I guess on the bright side, we are better off having realized this early in the fighting instead of being tricked at every turn for a longer while." Peridot nodded confidently, and she couldn't help but share in that confidence; they had done this before, they just needed to be adaptable.

Her smile widened; adaptability had been the trait that had led them to victory in the war. Amethyst, Steven and Connie returned and quickly noticed the uplifted mood.

"Can we get donuts? I'm hungry and-" He was interrupted by a yawn.

"I'm tired too."


End file.
